At home


You always know when you're in a baptist church! They just have that warm, homely feeling.  Lovely people and passionate worshippers, after 2 hours of gospel choir led singing (with a big PA cranked up), testimonies, 2 collections, prayers and then 20 minutes of notices, it was my turn to contribute to the proceedings.

With Daniel my translator I spoke for almost an hour  Well, when in Rome...   I taught them a bit of Catherine Tate: "Am I bovvered.?" They caught on. I nearly fell into the baptistry after I'd finished, though - it's cover is not strong enough to hold an adult's weight!  During my sermon I mentioned the name of one of my students I taught in an Anglican theological college not far from here 14 years ago. Imagine my surprise when a lady in the front row told me that she works with her in a local school! I hope to meet her tomorrow. 

 After the service is over they all greet each other and form a large circle outside  Nice tradition  

 And then we had a nice meal in town afterwards with the team that is organising tomorrow's teaching conference. Great company, great food.



Popular posts from this blog

Michael Nhonya - or is it Eddie Murphy?

Image
My host for most of the last 3 weeks has been Michael, the General Secretary of the Baptist Convention of Tanzania (BCT), a collective of about 1,500 Baptist churches. He is a quite extraordinary Christian and someone I have grown to love and hugely respect. He is a doppelganger for Eddie Murphy, but twice as much fun! Through long journeys (here he is eating his beloved sumaki/fish, tilapia, while driving) and the sharing of stories and many meals together, we have become friends - kindred spirits! His story will amaze you. Here I am with his family as I took them out for a thank you supper on my last night at the old New Dodoma Hotel. Born into an Anglican Christian family, Michael's father was a natural evangelist and church planter - around 20 in his life thus far. The Anglicans made what he considered an unreasonable demand on him, so he became a Baptist (Hallelujah!) and he continued his work for God. Having lost his mother at an early age, Michael became a troub...
Read more

Paul, Lydia, Philippi and a few tears

Image
We got up before the sun rose. The apostle Paul and Philippi beckoned and we wanted to make the most of the cool of the morning. It was 20C when we left. This was the view from our apartment as the sun made its daily appearance. We arrived at 8am, the opening time for the ancient site, only no one seemed to have told anyone there! It only took a few minutes and we were the first in. Number 1 on the map was the acropolis, so we took advantage of the hill being in shadow and started to climb. We were told that there was a zig zag path up, but it was badly signposted and we couldn't find it, so we made our own way up over boulders and loose rocks - how hard can it be? Very. My fit bit (I call it my fat bot) didn't know what had hit it and it started buzzing at me every few minutes as some new target had been reached. It was tough going but with a bit of 'push me pull you' we made it, glad of the shade of the Byzantine fort, a cool breeze and a bottle of water. ...
Read more